of Boggarts and Nightmares
by Tonythecat
Summary: Harry Potter has had a rough start to 3rd year: a dementor attack leading him to relive his darkest memories each night and a boggart no one saw coming. Harry is broken and it's up to Lupin to piece him back together. A dabble of a relationship that could have been.


The sun rose slowly, incapsulating all it touched in a soft gold light. The wind, making the multicoloured leaves dance valiantly as a few unwitting ones fell prematurely onto the dew covered ground that so defines a late summers morn. All was at peace on the magnificent grounds of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for a young, green eyed boy by the name of Harry Potter. Another night meant another nightmare and another morning meant another day full of classes he had to try and get through without falling asleep. Now, it wasn't usually this bad. Sure, Harry had suffered from the odd nightmare before; it should be expected from a boy that had lived a life like his, but this was different. He could live with his normal nightmares but these, these were so much worse. He would awake in a state of mental agony: screaming, shaking, crying, sweating profusely, and being altogether unable to calm down.

Slowly, Harry pushed his back against the backboard as he rode out the after effects of the latest nightmare. It wasn't an uncommon one, the same screaming of his mother as she took her final breath, the same evil laugh of a wizard so engulfed in hatred, the same confusion as to why his mother lied so still on the ground, the same searing pain emitting from his forehead as he was hit with an unforgivable curse, and the same pain of a normal life he never got to live. But the nightmare didn't end there. It went on, twisted and morphed itself until he was no longer in a crib with a loving mother, he was in a cupboard with an enraged uncle slamming one of the many locks closed while promising the terrified little boy that he would never see the light of day again. Harry wishes it would have ended there, but it never did. Instead, he was bombarded with memory after memory of an abusive uncle, a bully of a cousin, and an aunt who did nothing but watch. Harry would always reminded himself that it could have been worse, the occasional slap around and rude remark, the constant look of distain and reminders that he didn't belong, it was manageable. Yet in his heart of hearts, he knew it was wrong, they were wrong, they had to be, right? Curling himself up in a ball as the tears slowly stopped falling, he longed for a reassuring hug from a loving parent, something he had yet to receive. Once the tears and shaking had stopped, harry swung his legs over the side of the bed and made his way to the bathroom him and 4 other boys shared in the 3rd year boys Gryffindor room. Harry silently thanked god for the silencing charms he had since learned how to cast which prevented any of these boys from waking up to the ear piercing screams that came with his nightmares as he slipped into the bathroom.

"Bloody dementors," he swore, as he ran his fingers through his unruly hair. That's how this had all started. Just over a week ago, after boarding the Hogwarts Express, a dementor had forced Harry to relieve his worst memories and since that day, these memories just wouldn't leave him alone.

A quick shower shower later, Harry, with a fake smile plastered on his face, left the bathroom to wake up Ron for breakfast.

"Bloody hell Harry, why are you up this early?" Ron questioned, rubbing his eyes and blinking at the light now streaming through the bedroom.

"Oh I uh, I just wanted to get a good start to the day you know, got to make sure we get a goo breakfast in," replied Harry quickly, he hadn't realized how early it was and he wasn't quite ready to tell Ron about his nightmares. He didn't want to seem like a baby, he could handle it, or so he tried to convince himself.

"You're beginning to sound like Hermione," Ron retorted, wrinkling his nose. But nonetheless he got up and stretched before making his way over to the bathroom to change.

Harry breathed a quick sigh of relief, at least Ron hadn't questioned him any further. "I'll meet you in the common room," he called over his shoulder, making his way down to the door. Sure enough, Hermione was already waiting patiently for them.

"Harry! Why, you look like you didn't sleep a wink, are you alright?" She asked, with a look of compassion in her eyes. Harry merely nodded, she had asked him this every single morning since they had arrived at Hogwarts and while he was happy that he had a friend that cared that much for him, he refused to actually tell her what was really going on, after all, he wasn't some baby she could coddle.

"Breakfast time, come on!" Ron declared as he made his way down the stairs and past his 2 friends. With a sigh of frustration, Hermione followed, she knew something was up but it was obvious she wasn't going to get a word from Harry.

Harry hardly ate anything, much to Hermione's dismay, but he simply couldn't stomach much after all he had seen in his nightmares. Upon noticing the worried looks of Hermione, Harry tried to get her mind off his eating habits, after all, its his life and he can choose how much or little he wants to eat. "What do you guys think of Professor Lupin?" He asked, hoping that would distract Hermione from the pitiful amount of food he's consumed.

"I don't know mate, but anythings better than Lockhart," replied Ron with a chuckle, before returning to the pile of food on his plate. Harry couldn't help but agree to that. He looked over to where Lupin was eating breakfast and couldn't help but smile. Even though hadn't known the tall, sandy haired professor for long, he quite liked him. His smile was so genuine, his demeanour so nonthreatening, and it seemed as though Lupin really cared for Harry when he was attacked by the dementor. Harry was so distracted that he hadn't heard Hermione as she valiantly defended their former defence teacher.

"Right Harry? Harry? Harry are you listening?" Hermione asked, while waving her hands right in front of his face.

"Hm? Oh yeah of course," he replied, not taking his eyes off of his new professor.

"Nice try Harry" she said indigently, "Well I'm going to go get my things for class, I'll meet you guys there." And with that she got up and left.

"Geesh," Ron remarked, rolling his eyes as she left, "the maniac tries to obliviate us for merlins sake! How can she defend him!"

Harry laughed as he stood up from the table, "we should get going, merlin knows what she'd do to us if we're late for our first defence class."


End file.
